Sony is making a One-Punch Man movie, and we know exactly who should play the lead

One-Punch Man is the biggest anime success stories of the past decade, an off-beat tale about a yellow-clad superhero — Saitama — who’s able to decimate every opponent he meets with just one punch. The story started off as a webcomic by Japanese artist ONE, then as an explosively popular manga with illustrator Yusuke Murata, and finally as a beloved anime that had a killer first season and an extremely underwhelming second.

And now…a live-action superhero franchise from Sony? Variety reports that the studio behind the Spider-Man and Venom films is ready to add another star to its lineup, and eager to get a One-Punch Man movie going. Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, the writers behind Venom and the two recent Jumanji movies (Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level) have been tapped to write it.

At the moment, the only big-name superhero Sony has in its arsenal is Spider-Man, and it’s splitting custody of the character (as played by Tom Holland) with Disney. Sony is trying to compensate by making its own Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, with films like Venom already out and one about Spider-Man nemesis Morbius on the way. And also Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was really good.

But all-Spider-Man-all-the-time might get boring after a while, especially with Disney having access to basically the entirety of Marvel’s superhero catalog (including characters that were off limits prior to Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is working with the DC stable of superheroes. It makes sense that Sony would want to fill out its own bench.

But working with One-Punch Man will be tricky. This isn’t a straight-forward superhero. He’s more akin to Deadpool in that he subverts traditional superhero cliches. The best parts of One-Punch Man involve Saitama just hanging out and trying to figure what to do with himself, since his incredible power makes being a superhero way too easy.

I haven’t read the manga, but I’ve watched the anime, and if you ask me, it lost its way in season 2 when it focused more on equally matched heroes and villains going at each other, just like any other superhero drama. It became generic and boring, and the people behind this new movie will have to avoid falling into that trap.

The producers also have to be mindful of other failed anime-to-live-action-movie adaptations, which don’t have a great track record. (Remember that awful Dragonball Evolution movie? Or the middling Attack on Titan film?) On the other hand, that could be a great opportunity for a director who wants to make something quirky and different.

Also, there’s the matter of who to cast as Saitama. I have the perfect pick: Anthony Carrigan, who plays the hilarious mobster NoHo Hank on Barry, which is an amazing show you should watch if you get a chance. No time like quarantine, huh?

Yes, I’m mostly making this pick because he’s bald. And really funny. What else do you need?

Image: One-Punch Man/Barry

As long as we’re talking about Sony superhero movies, there’s also movement on the Venom 2 front…literally. It’s been delayed from June 25, 2021 to October 1, 2021. That October will be a crowded time for superheroes, and villains.

Also, the title for Venom 2 is officially Venom: Let There Be Carnage, meaning we’ll see a lot of Woody Harrelson as the Venom villain.

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h/t Io9, Deadline